Diapers, School, and Social Anxiety?

I The First Day

The last days before school went by quickly as Sarah was finishing up the last chapters in her summer reading assignment for her English class. This was a part of an honors curriculum where an essay and discussion were due on the first day of class. On a cold and wet September morning, the first day of high school finally arrived. "Wake up honey, it's time for school" her mother said. Sarah groggily tossed about to look at the time, 7:20 AM. She wasn't used to waking up this early. "You only have a few minutes to get ready, I tried waking you earlier. I'll be waiting downstairs with your coffee; I have to be at work by 8:00 so I'll have to drop you off a bit early." Sarah got ready quickly and went downstairs to her mother who had just finished brewing her morning coffee. Amy had on her Martin's uniform because she had to make it to work immediately after dropping Sarah off. Sarah and her mother started out the door and her father, Mike called out behind them "you two have a good day and be safe!" Mike rarely started work until later in the day.

The roads were wet and nasty. A storm must have rolled in during the night. Luckily, the town Sarah lived in was small, so it wasn't that far of a drive to school. After a short commute, they arrived at school and Amy gave Sarah a hug, "have a great first day of school honey, just treat today as an opportunity to learn the layout and structure, don't overwhelm yourself!" With that, Sarah stepped out of her mother's car and with a final wave, she turned towards the school. It wasn't the largest school, but it did have two floors and it was slightly bigger than the middle school she had attended across the street. Sarah took a deep breath and started towards the gymnasium.

It was 7:45, still five minutes before the bells sounded to release students to class. The gym was packed with students, mostly underclassmen who didn't have cars. Sarah noticed her friend Emily running towards her, "Sarah! How are you doing? Did you finish that reading assignment for English?" Sarah hugged her friend, they had known each other since third grade when Emily moved to their little town, they'd been best friends ever since. "Ugh yes, that book was terrible" said Sarah. "If I had to read another word about deep sea ocean life, I was going to burn that book in the fireplace." It truly was a universally hated assignment. The book lacked any consideration for the interests of average teenagers and the girls couldn't contemplate anyone who would have read that book for enjoyment. "Sarah, I've never seen you wearing clothes like that, what happened?" asked Emily, referring to Sarah's short skirt and top. Sarah blushed and glanced down at her feet, "mom's idea. She said I won't attract anyone wearing those baggy, plain looking clothes." Emily playfully hit her on the arm, "well I'd be careful if I were you; look, that boy is checking you out!" Sarah carefully turned her glance behind her but couldn't make out who Emily was talking about. Emily laughed and told her to relax and have fun with it. Emily wasn't as serious about school as Sarah, but she had plenty of boyfriends in middle school which made Sarah jealous. It wasn't that she was prettier, she just had more confidence and fashion sense. At 7:50, the bell rang to leave the gym and head to class. Sarah and Emily both had the same classes, but at different times, so Sarah waved goodbye to Emily and began walking to her first class.

Sarah found Mrs. Robertson's English room about one minute prior to the start of class. She had mistakenly gone upstairs and got lost looking for the correct room. She entered to find every seat taken with a few puzzled looks from the students. "Hello there, what is your name, are you sure you found the right class?" asked Mrs. Robertson. Sarah began to blush and muttered "I think so", handing Mrs. Robertson her schedule. "Hmm... everything looks to be in order, I guess they didn't give us enough chairs. Not to worry, I'll go find you another seat, just give me a few minutes" and she left the classroom. The bell sounded at 8:00 and the classroom was deadly silent. Although no one was really concerned about Sarah's trivial predicament, she felt as if everyone was staring at her for standing at the front of the room without a seat. A few minutes later, Mrs. Robertson returned. "I'm so sorry about that, this class isn't normally so large, and we've never used all our desks before." She placed the desk at the front corner of the room and Sarah finally settled in.